HARTFORD, Conn. — After two hours of haymakers, of floor burns, of elbows masquerading as spears and battering rams, a classic Big East slugfest was going to come down to … this?
To a loose ball, ricocheting every which way, practically begging for someone to finally grab it and win this game?
Of course it was. And of course it was No. 2 UConn — senior guard Solo Ball, specifically — who finally broke free of the chaos, ball in hand, with the only thing the Huskies have proved they really need this season: a chance to win late.
After collecting that pivotal defensive rebound with barely a minute left in overtime Saturday, Ball calmly dished it to Silas Demary, who delivered the most ordinary of daggers: a layup straight down the middle, through (by Big East standards) almost no contact. Demary’s bucket put UConn up 4 against Villanova with 47 seconds left — juuuust enough, in a game with nine lead changes and 11 ties, to seal the Huskies’ eventual 75-67 overtime win at PeoplesBank Arena.
“We’ve found a way to win so many times, whether that’s in league play or nonconference play,” senior forward Alex Karaban said. “It’s just another one.”
He’s not wrong. Because at this point in the season, the throughline of UConn’s 19-1 start and 9-0 record in the Big East — not to mention the program’s longest single-season winning streak, 15 games, since 1994-95 — is that exactly: Though Dan Hurley’s team might still be a work in progress, one tinkering with its formula and how all the pieces coalesce … it’s one that, no matter what, just wins anyway.
Sounds terrific, no? Except to someone like Hurley — who has twice climbed the college basketball mountaintop, and knows as well as anyone in the sport what is required to get there — it’s also something of a double-edged sword.
That isn’t to say the uber-competitive Hurley would trade any of his team’s recent close wins. “I’m not going to take the joy out of being in a great spot,” he said Saturday.
But on the flip side, Hurley understands the regular season is more than halfway through, and there are still rough edges to his team that need some sanding down.
“We’re just not playing at that (consistent championship) level yet,” Hurley added. ‘We’ve got to get this s— tied up within the next weeks or month.”
Hurley has maintained that message since the calendar flipped, especially after recent close or come-from-behind wins against Providence, Seton Hall and Georgetown. But he isn’t alone in feeling that way. On Saturday, when Hurley was walking back to UConn’s locker room after the game, he saw a familiar face in the tunnel just off the court that caused him to stop: legendary former UConn coach Jim Calhoun, a fellow two-time national championship winner who has been a frequent source of guidance for Hurley during his eight seasons as coach in Storrs.
Hurley stopped to embrace Calhoun, burying the top of his head in his predecessor’s chest, before darting back to the bowels of the arena.
So, what did Calhoun say?
“Coach rattled off about four or five things we suck at,” Hurley joked. “Quickly then went in the locker room and put in the notes section of my phone all the s— that he said about the things we need to get better at.”
The list probably included the same things Hurley has lamented in recent weeks, which flared up at times against the Wildcats on Saturday. And that starts with rebounding, which Hurley reiterated as a “concern” after UConn’s latest win. Consider: Both of Hurley’s national title teams were top-15 in the country in offensive and defensive rebounding rate, per KenPom. This year’s group?
Just 60th in offensive rebounding rate, and 131st on the defensive glass.
And though, yes, the Huskies (narrowly) outrebounded the Wildcats 42-39, that box score tells a bit of a lie. The final count only tilts in UConn’s favor because of an 8-3 margin in extra time. Against a team that has only two players taller than 6 feet 7 among its top nine minutes getters, that simply isn’t good enough in Hurley’s eyes.
Though it’s Hurley’s job to focus on wrench-tightening, his team is undoubtedly still improving. Just turn on the tape from Saturday.
After an inconsistent few weeks, Ball finally broke out in full fashion, scoring a game-high 24 points and at times single-handedly keeping the Huskies afloat offensively. “For him,” Hurley said, “this was a really good step forward.” Or how about UConn having only nine turnovers, making it consecutive games the Huskies have had single-digit giveaways, after a disastrous 17 against Seton Hall? Or how, after falling behind by 7 after Hurley’s second-half technical foul, the Huskies didn’t let the deficit balloon any further, instead immediately erasing it in a matter of minutes? Or how Karaban — whose missed free throws down the stretch against Villanova last season cost UConn the game — went 8-for-9 from the charity stripe, including 3-for-3 in the second half?
That’s all progress. Growth. The exact sorts of things UConn needs to be figuring out and which a similar Huskies squad also had to do a few years back, during the 2022-23 season.
The difference? That team lost five of eight games in January, and this one just keeps winning — even if it’s building parts of the plane in the air.
“We gotta get better every single day, but I definitely see the vision,” Karaban said. “I definitely see the potential in how good this team can be.”
Hurley and Karaban — two of the few holdovers from that 2023 title team — have continually compared this group to that one, which only found its footing fully in March. And from a roster standpoint, with it still TBD how all this season’s puzzle pieces fit together, that makes sense. Starting center Tarris Reed, who fouled out late in the second half, is still capable of more interior dominance, despite his gaudy counting stats. Ball, until Saturday, had been in a bit of a lull. And Saturday even introduced another question into the mix, with freshman sharpshooter Braylon Mullins leaving midway through the second half after being elbowed in the face. Hurley later said he’s in the concussion protocol.
Lots of balls in the air. Which, again, makes it a tremendous testament to Hurley, his staff and his players that, thus far, they’ve caught them all 19 times out of 20.
But Hurley and his Huskies are not chasing a 19-1 record, satisfying as that is.
“The season’s kind of gone great for us,” Hurley said, “but my responsibility as a coach is to be concerned about the things that will prevent us from winning the Big East regular season, winning the Big East tournament and getting to the Final Four. Trying to win a national championship.”
Just winning is great. It’s worked until now, and did so again Saturday against one of the three Big East teams seriously in NCAA Tournament contention. When it has mattered most, UConn has made the plays at the margins time and time and time again.
“We just gotta be able to come out and gut these wins out,” Ball said, “like we’re supposed to.”
But Hurley knows that to win six games in March, that strategy is going to increasingly be tested by better and better teams.
Having done so this many times will unquestionably serve UConn in the postseason, no matter how much improvement the Huskies make before then. But that doesn’t mean Hurley and his team can’t still do some serious fine-tuning over the next eight weeks, to give themselves more of a margin for error.
“We’re winning, and we’re just going to continue to find ways to win,” Karaban said. “But I truly believe that this team can be a championship team. And we are just going to continue to strive for that every single day.”